Fleer – Post War Cards

In 1966, Fleer sold the last of its baseball player contracts to Topps after fighting them in court for its aggressiveness in securing exclusive player contracts. Fleer actually initially won their case at the Federal Trade Commission but lost on appeal. Despite a challenging landscape, Fleer embraced innovation and diversity and ventured into non-sports cards pretty hard to help sell their bubble gum. One really intriguing outcome of this experimentation was the emergence of the 1965 Fleer Weird-Ohs and the 1966 Fleer Baseball Weird-Ohs.

1965 Fleer Weird-Ohs

Kudos to The Sport Americana Price Guide to The Non-Sports Cards for details about these two Fleer Weird-Ohs sets; there isn’t much else written about them. They point out that the wrapper design tells you what this set of cards is all about; it features a monster wearing an “SCTA” hat (Society for Cruelty to Animals) flagging down prospective victims.

The 66-card set is packed with similar bizarre characters based on characters developed by the Hawk Model Company – who have a copyright on the back of the cards.

1965 Fleer Weird-Ohs #3 Francis The Foul – Front

1965 Fleer Weird-Ohs #3 Francis The Foul – Reverse

The front of each card features a unique cartoon character, their name, and a brief description of their “proclivities.” The green card backs all feature Francis the Foul on the left-hand side and a detailed description of the character in black text underneath a clearly marked “Weird-Ohs” trademark.

1965 Fleer Weird-Ohs #7 Terry Tent – Front

1965 Fleer Weird-Ohs #7 Terry Tent – Reverse

1965 Fleer Weird-Ohs #13 Pop Fly – Front

1965 Fleer Weird-Ohs #13 Pop Fly – Reverse

1966 Fleer Baseball Weird-Ohs

Despite “baseball” being in the set’s title, the hobby has always categorized the 1966 Fleer Baseball Weird-Ohs as a non-sport set.

Fleer stuck with the weird-oh design and basic card format in a spin-off to poke fun at baseball with this 66-card set. The fronts again feature colorful artwork designed by artist William Campbell with a caption (that usually rhymes) below it within the card’s white border. The backs have the “Baseball Weird-ohs” set title, the card title (not the same words as on the front), and a descriptive back story of the character that often describes something comically violent on the right side, with “Doug Out” from card #1 on the left side which has an orange background.

1966 Fleer Baseball Weird-Ohs #1 Doug Out – Front

1966 Fleer Baseball Weird-Ohs #1 Doug Out – Reverse

1966 Fleer Baseball Weird-Ohs #2 Texas Leaguerer – Front

1966 Fleer Baseball Weird-Ohs #2 Texas Leaguerer – Reverse

1966 Fleer Baseball Weird-Ohs #4 Sonny Sun-Field – Front

1966 Fleer Baseball Weird-Ohs #4 Sonny Sun-Field – Reverse

1966 Fleer Baseball Weird-Ohs #13 Newton Nervous – Front

1966 Fleer Baseball Weird-Ohs #13 Newton Nervous – Reverse

1966 Fleer Baseball Weird-Ohs #62 Hey Hey Harry – Front

1966 Fleer Baseball Weird-Ohs #62 Hey Hey Harry – Reverse

In 2020, REA auctioned off a few of Campbell’s original art pieces. Each piece is approximately 4-3/4″ x 6-1/8″—the four pieces sold for $810.

1966 Fleer Baseball Weird-Ohs Oringal Artwork

The art for card #62 featuring Hey Hey Harry sold for $355 in October 2013.

1966 Fleer Baseball Weird-Ohs Hey Hey Harry Original Artwork

Wrap Up

When it comes to the Fleer Weird-Oh sets, collectors seem to either love ’em or hate ’em without a lot of in-between. That divide has left a unique market dynamic where collectors can track down complete sets for a modest, though not “super-cheap” price range between $70 and $90. The set has maintained a certain level of popularity, evidenced by its re-issue in 2007/2008, though no new items were introduced.

I first discussed the 1989 Fleer Bill Ripken #616 FF Error card in an article about expensive baseball card printing errors that was focused on modern cards. In it, I wrote that “Fleer didn’t notice that the Bill Ripken card they released had an obscenity written on the bottom of the bat he was holding. It spelled out, “F**k FACE.” After the company became aware of the error, they released subsequent printings with the words obscured. First, they had a blob of what appeared to be White-Out, then a pen scribble, and finally a black square. Ripken admitted that he wrote the words on the bat to spot it easily as his batting practice bat. Ripken also believes that Fleer couldn’t have missed the error and suggested that they enhanced it to generate extra publicity.”

The 5 Bill Ripken #616 cards have the following populations and approximate prices:

Black Box Over Error – Total Population of 3948 – PSA 8 for ~$18
Black Scribble Over Error – Total Population of 1572 – PSA 8 for ~$30
FF Error – Total Population of 15464 – PSA 8 for ~$70 (The card everyone seems to want these days)
Scribbled Out in White – Total Population of 130 – PSA 8 for ~$500+ (A lot of Variance)
Whited Out Vulgarity – Total Population of 163 – PSA 8 for ~$480

1989 Fleer #616 Bill Ripken Black Box Over Error

1989 Fleer #616 Bill Ripken Black Scribble Over Error

1989 Fleer #616 Bill Ripken Scribbled Out In White

1989 Fleer #616 Bill Ripken Whited Out Vulgarity

Now, if you want to pull a 1989 Fleer Bill Ripken #616 FF Error card from a pack, you need to buy a case or an authenticated box from a trusted source with the right provenance.

There is a 5-digit number printed on 1989 Fleer cases. The case you buy needs the right numbering on it, or the box needs to list the 5-digit number of the case it came from. In the picture that follows, 83422 is printed in black ink on the lower right side.

The first digit is the print year, 9 for 1989, and 8 for 1988. The next three numbers represent the day of the year. 001 is for January 1st, 004 would be January 4th, and so on. The last digit is either a location or a shift.

Digits before 90171, January 17th, 1989, have the Bill Ripken FF error inside. I’ve been reading that the error has been verified in cases up to 90191, but I haven’t seen that myself.

The next two pictures and the case above will have the FF error since their codes are under 90171.

This 1989 Fleer Wax Box, authenticated by the Baseball Card Exchange, came from a case with code 90122; therefore, it may have a FF error inside.

1989 Fleer Baseball Wax Box BBCE Authenticated FASC Code 90122

The next two pictures are of cases that will not have the FF error since their codes are above 90171.

If you pull a 1989 Fleer Bill Ripken #616 FF error from a pack, let me know in the comments.

Beyond the Diamond: Fleer’s Legal Battle Led To Innovation And The Quirky 1965 and 1966 Weird-Ohs Sets

1965 Fleer Weird-Ohs

1966 Fleer Baseball Weird-Ohs

Wrap Up

Pulling the Bill Ripken FF Error from 1989 Fleer Wax Boxes